Following on from the introduction of the EDI Toolkit with Farrers, this joint seminar with ACEN (African Caribbean Education Network) will look at how to practically implement the toolkit. We will be joined by schools who have been working on applying the toolkit to share their experiences of their EDI journey. This seminar will offer practical hints and tips.
Event Speakers
Shehnal advises educational institutions on safeguarding matters and qualified into the Farrer & Co Employment team in September 2016.
Shehnal advises a variety of clients, including schools, universities, charities, businesses and individuals.
A recent highlight was advising a client in relation to a potential discrimination claim he had against his employer and successfully negotiating a generous compensation payment. This enabled him to move on from his employment and focus on improving his health.
Shehnal is also part of the firm’s Faith-based organisations grouping and advises such organisations in relation to their employment and safeguarding practices.
Her personal approach as an Educational and Child Psychologist, is to form a holistic and strengths-based view of the child and their experience, primarily within the context of their learning environment.
She has extensive training in child development and an in-depth understanding of school systems, special educational needs and the impact the learning environment can have on a child’s experience, wellbeing and overall development. She uses her knowledge and training in these areas to bring about positive change for children, young people and their families by applying psychological theory and practice to children and young people in educational settings. Noting that often, children make progress when the environment around them is adapted to suit their individual needs or those adults that support the child are guided to consider the child’s needs from a different perspective.
Rebecca is Deputy Head at Bristol Grammar School where she is also the EDI lead, working with pupils, staff, parents and governors to improve the experiences of minoritized groups. A History and Politics teacher by trade, Rebecca has taught in the Bristol and Bath area since 2005. She started her career at Colston’s School and has enjoyed positions as Head of History & Politics at King Edward’s School, Bath and as Head of Sixth Form at Clifton College, before moving to Bristol Grammar School. She sits on the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference ‘Inclusion Working Group’; Bristol City Council’s ‘Race Equality in Education’ steering group, and the Bristol Educational Partnership’s group on ‘Equality and Diversity’. Her academic interests lie in the experiences of migrants in Britain in the 1960s, and ethnic tensions in eastern Europe throughout the twentieth century.
Serena is responsible for safeguarding and policy, bringing a breadth of knowledge about the independent school sector from both a parent and teacher perspective.
Serena is a qualified teacher, who now runs her own education and consultancy business offering consultancy, tuition, and small group classes.
As a former Head of Inclusion and Enrichment at an independent school, Serena was responsible for managing the provision for children requiring additional academic ‘stretch’ and also for those children with barriers to their learning due to special educational needs.
Before joining the education sector, Serena enjoyed a decade working in not-for-profit organisations, championing children’s rights and racial equality.
Serena has an interest in children’s literature and is currently working on her first middle-grade novel.
Claire Harvey is a world-leading inclusion and diversity expert with an impressive record of delivering sustained transformational change in both large and small organisations across the world. Claire is Global Inclusion Lead for Vodafone, and founder of Schools Inclusion Alliance, a pro-bono membership organisation supporting independent schools to develop inclusive cultures and tackle inequality. She is a retained advisor to the Houses of Parliament and a visiting lecturer at Harvard University.
Claire started her career within the criminal justice system, notably as a prison governor, managing a resettlement prison and as a riot commander. After eight years as a prison governor she joined the Ministry of Justice to lead policy on young adult offenders. Claire developed her expertise in diversity and inclusion through roles with the Financial Services Authority, Youth Sport Trust and KPMG, in two years leading KPMG from 156th to 10th in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index. Claire is a GB Paralympian in sitting volleyball and, in 2018, she was awarded an MBE for services to Inclusion and to Sport. Claire was appointed as a Governor of Millfield in 2021.
Alice is an associate in our Employment team with experience of advising a diverse range of clients on contentious and non-contentious matters.
She re-joined Farrer & Co in 2021 after ten years overseas, firstly in Hong Kong and then Malaysia. Prior to this, Alice trained and qualified at an international law firm in London before joining the Farrers Employment team in 2009. She left Farrers in 2011 to relocate to Hong Kong where she set up a tutoring business and worked for a Hong Kong law firm in the Employment team. On relocating to Malaysia, Alice became a consultant for Peerpoint by Allen & Overy. She also volunteered in the legal unit of UNHCR Malaysia, studied both International Human Rights Law and Gender Diversity, and undertook an internship for a US-based NGO dealing with labour rights issues in global supply chains.
Alice is a versatile member of the team with a strong foundation in employment law and valuable commercial experience. She enjoys working on complex matters and finding pragmatic solutions for clients. Stemming from her international experience, Alice has an abiding interest in matters relating to business and human rights in relation to the workplace, diversity matters and issues which relate to modern slavery.
